New Brunswick offers much for travellers to view and experience during a road trip in the Canadian province. Here are 10 tremendous reasons to tour New Brunswick:

Dine on delicious seafood

Atlantic Canada is renowned for its outstanding seafood. Freshly landed lobster and fish is served at restaurants in coastal communities around New Brunswick. You can take your pick from takeaways, moderately priced meals or fine-dining food experiences.

Family Fisheries, on Campobello Island, is one of many places serving fish and chips. The Rossmount Inn Restaurant, near St Andrews, serves naked lobster (shelled) and has a reputation for being among the best in Canada.

As tasty as it looks! Naked lobster served at the Rossmount Inn Restaurant near St Andrews by-the-Sea.

Prefer lager? The long-established Moosehead Brewery is open for tours from Monday to Friday. The craft brewing revolution is a factor in Moosehead opening its Small Batch Brewery (89 Main Street West), whose tap room is open seven days a week.

Sign for the Saint John Ale House in Saint John.

Experience night photography at the Hopewell Rocks

If you enjoy photography then pack a tripod and book a 2.5 tour to photograph the Hopewell Rocks at night. Kevin Snair of Creative Imagery guides the tours. Kevin is a professional photographer and an interpretative guide at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park. His insights into night photography are coupled with fascinating snippets of information about the formation of the rocks.

Thanks to low light pollution in the region, Kevin’s tours bring opportunities to view the rocks and night skies that are renowned for their stars and frequent sightings of the Northern Lights.

The Hopewell Rocks are a great location for night photography when the tide is out.

Go kayaking off Deer Island and view marine life

Seascape Kayak Tours offers kayaking tours that cater for people of all abilities and ages. Tandem kayaks are available if you don’t like the idea of being alone in a boat.

The guides provide clear instructions, making it easy for novices to navigate their kayaks during half- or full-day tours that include a picnic lunch on a beach. Being in a kayak brings opportunities to get close to creatures such as porpoises and seals, and to see golden eagles and seabirds.

Kayaking off Deer Island in the Bay of Fundy.

Learn why the Bay of Fundy has the world’s highest tides

The Interpretive Centre at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park has exhibits explaining how the Bay of Fundy was formed and why it has the world’s highest tides. The churn of water in and out of the bay brings a rich supply of food for whales, explaining the presence of so many cetaceans off New Brunswick’s southern shore.

If you want to see the ‘flowerpot rocks’ you have the option of walking between (and even beneath some) them when the tide is low or paddling around them in a kayak when the tide is high.

Hopewell Rocks are nicknamed the Flowerpot Rocks, and are washed by the tidal waters of the Bay of Fundy.

Pardon your French?

New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province. There are French-speaking communities across New Brunswick. That means plenty of opportunities to speak French, should you wish. New Brunswick’s residents have a laid-back approach to life and linguistics. If you don’t speak French, it’s no big deal, people are usually able and willing to switch to English.

Roll with it. A lobster roll served in Saint John.

Step inside a railway baron’s home

Sir William Van Horne was a president of the Canadian Pacific Railway and played a key role in overseeing the completion of the line that linked Canada;s east and west coasts.

Covenhoven, his summer home, is open between May and October. It stands on Minister’s Island, a short drive along Bar Road, from St Andrews, when the tide is low. The island, incidentally, was so named because a Loyalist Anglican, the Reverend Samuel Andrews, settled on it in 1786.

Covenhoven, the summer home of Sir William van Horne, on Minister’s Island in New Brunswick.

Swim with the fishes during the salmon run in Fundy National Park

An Atlantic salmon species, endemic to the inner Bay of Fundy, can once again be seen running upstream in Fundy National Park to spawn in the Upper Salmon and Point Wolfe rivers each autumn. Almost two decades ago the species was on the verge of extinction. The salmon run is indicative that a Parks Canada initiated conservation programme is yielding success.

During September, when the migration is underway, visitors can snorkel among salmon during tours guided by First Nations experts and biologists.

Maybe you prefer to experience fish a different way?

View whales breaching in the Bay of Fundy

Whale watching tours depart from wharves at St Andrews, Campobello Island and Grand Manan Island. Taking to the water brings opportunities to view several species of cetacean, including humpback whales, finback whales and minke whales. Dolphins and porpoises are also frequently spotted in the Bay of Fundy.

A humpback whale in the Bay of Fundy, Canada.

Visit the summer home of a former US President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent many happy summers on Campobello Island prior to becoming the 32nd president of the United States of America. His family summer home stands in Roosevelt Campobello International Park, which is jointly managed by Canada and the USA.

Campobello Island and the US state of Maine are linked by the toll-free Roosevelt International Bridge road bridge.

The Roosevelt Cottage at Roosevelt Campobello International Park Campobello Island in New Brunswick.

Further information

Getting to New Brunswick

One of the easiest ways of getting from the United Kingdom to New Brunswick is by taking a flight to Halifax Stanfield International Airport, in Nova Scotia. British Airways and Air Canada are among the airlines that serve that route. Westjetoffers direct flights to Halifax from Glasgow and London. From Halifax the drive to Moncton, in New Brunswick, is around two hours 30 minutes.

Be careful of the wildlife ! A ‘lobster crossing’ sign at Alma in New Brunswick.

Disclosure:The author of this post travelled as a guest of Tourism New Brunswick, which did not have an opportunity to review or approve this article.

Stuart Forster is an award-winning journalist based in the northeast of England. He was presented with the 2017 BACTA (British Annual Canada Travel Award) for Best Online Coverage and named Journalist of the Year at the Holland Press Awards in 2015 and 2016. Follow Stuart's personal blog at www.go-eat-do.com and Go Eat Do's social media via @GoEatDo.
Call Stuart on +44 7947 587136 if you have a story idea to discuss or to talk about commissioning a feature.